Monday Musings From Behind The Writer’s Desk

This morning I wish to remember a man who was in the Fifth Light Horse Regiment with my Great Grandfather, William Lyons. I had read in “The History of the Fifth Light Horse Regiment” about an incident on the evening of 6th June 1915 at Gallipoli, that caused the death of a Lieutenant Jack Hanly. Due to heavy fire, his men left his body and ran back to the safety of their own trenches.

Lt. Jack Hanly

What caught my attention about the story was that my Great Grandfather, William Lyons, led the first search party in order to retrieve Lt Hanly’s body. They were unsuccessful due to being under attack by enemy fire and a subsequent party the following night was also unsuccessful for the same reasons. His body was never found.

Since reading about the incident, I wondered how well William Lyons had known him, if at all. I wasn’t even sure if he had been in the same regiment. All I knew was that he was from the small Queensland town of Dalby and that he had also fought in the Boer War. So the probability of the two men crossing paths previously was high.

Last week I made a discovery that brought the entire incident to life. I discovered a blog called “War Diary”, which is a diary written by another man of the Fifth Light Horse Regiment, called Jack Graham. Lt Hanly was indeed an officer of the regiment and was one of five officers of ‘C’ Squadron, of which William Lyons was also an officer.

Sgt Jack Graham gives a very detailed account of his daily experiences and he wrote about the incident involving Lt Jack Hanly, even stating his friends last words before scrambling out of the trenches to face his fate. My next post about William Lyons will bring the whole incident to life, however, meantime I would ask you to take a look at the following link which will take you to the Australian War Memorial Site. Each evening, a fallen soldier is remembered and on this occasion it is Lt. Jack Hanly.